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Veterinary World, Vol.1, No.3, March 2008
Introduction
Peste des petits 
ruminants is an acute or subacute viral disease of goats and sheep characterizedby pyrexia, erosive stomatitis, conjunctivitis, gastro-enteritis and pneumonia. The name is French for“
disastrous disease of small ruminants 
”. Goatsare usually more severely affected than sheep. It is aparamyxovirus of the genus morbillivirus. It isantigenically very similar to the Rinderpest virus.Peste des petits ruminants was reported in parts ofsub- Saharan Africa for several decades and in theMiddle East and southern Asia since 1993. It hasbeen reported in Sudan, Kenya Uganda and Ethiopia.In India, PPR was first confirmed in March 1987 insheep suspected of having rinderest. It is nowbelieved that many outbreaks in India previouslyattributed to rinderpest were actually PPR (Taylor,2002) The disease is particularly devastating as thesecountries often use small ruminants as componentsof agricultural food production (EMPRES, 1999).
Clinical Observation
A typical outbreak of PPR was recorded in theBarbari breed of goats purchased from UttarPradesh, India and quarantined for 45days at theUniversity research farm, Tamil Nadu Veterinary andAnimal Sciences University (TANUVAS), Tamil Nadu,India. Out of 30 goats purchased morbidity andmortality were 66.7% and 16.67%, respectively. Theaffected animals showed symptoms like dullness,restlessness with dry muzzle and were anorectic.Animals had mucopurulent nasal discharge withconjunctival encrustation in the medial canthus.Typical oral lesions were seen with a few havingnecrotic stomatitis. All the affected animals hadprofuse diarrhoea and severe bronchopneumonia.Sudden bloat was noticed in grower goats beforesuccumbing to death. The animals which died on postmortem showed erosive stomatitis. Large intestinefeatured congestion around the ileocaecal valve and“zebra stripes” on the mucosal folds of the posteriorcolon. Congestion and enlargement of the spleen andlymph nodes were also seen.
Clinical Management
Ocular and nasal secretions were collected andconfirmed for PPR by counter immunoelectrophoresis as described in OIE (2002). Clinicalcases of PPR were treated with broad-spectrumantibiotics like enrofloxcin (Intas Pharmaceuticals,India), @5mg per kg body weight. Intestinalastringents like creta and kaolin were administered.Intravenous fluids like dextrose normal saline (10ml/ kg body weight), was administered for the treatmentof diarrhea and restoration of body fluid ionic balancefor seven days as described by Wosu (1989). Thereason for the outbreak of the disease could be dueto subjection of the animals to stress during transport,with pronounced clinical symptoms and mortalityamong young animals due to poor nutrition, stressof movement and concurrent parasitic infection asreported by Saliki (1998). The morbidity and mortalitywere 66.7% and 16.67%, respectively which werelower compared to Dhar
et al.
(2002) who reportedmorbidity of 100% and mortality of 90%. The reasonfor decreased morbidity and mortality could be dueto the age of the susceptible animal andmanagemental practices. The affected goats werefed tender shoots, grasses and a variety of succulentlocal greens. The goats were also drenched with
ragi 
gruel (finger millet) as they refused feed due to painfuloral lesions.
Ragi 
is known for its high fibre level,which makes it digestible slowly, thus ensuring theslow release of carbohydrates. Lemon fruit and othercitrus fruits proved to be effective for the treatmentof orf like lesions and labial scabs, (Wosu, 1989) Inthe evenings, the affected goats were subjected toinhalation with benzoin to decongest the trachealpassage. The oral cavity was washed twice a daywith a dilute solution of potassium permanganate
Clinical Management in an outbreak of Peste Des PetitsRuminants in Barbari Goats
Rita Narayanan, P. Gopu, S. Baegan, BarathidasanUniversity Research FarmMadhavaram, Chennai, 600 051
CLINICAL
Veterinary World, Vol.1(3): 81-82081
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